Cognition Dissemination: Can You Believe the Investigation Team Is Still Around After a Decade?
Persona 4 left a lasting impression among several who played it, whether they did so a decade ago or recently. It’s thanks to the game’s unique story and setting (for a video game), as it’s one of the few RPGs with modern settings to take place within a rural township instead of a densely-populated urban one. But it’s the writing here that shined, from a team that made the characters among the Investigation Team feel like nigh-authentic high school friends. Not everyone could relate to solving murders around a usually-quiet town, but many can relate to hanging out with friends during and after school vicariously, and partaking in all sorts of activities. They’re friends who deal with realistic issues on the side, a quality that shined through despite the game’s overall format feeling a little repetitive by the end.
In the time since the original Persona 4 released for PlayStation 2 in July 2008 (and December 2008 in western territories — just over a decade ago), it’s clear everyone underestimated just how popular the characters would continue to be. Atlus has also taken every opportunity they can to further utilize them given their appealing factor.
It says something when a fair portion of the praise for this game came from those who don’t usually play Japanese RPGs, or swore them off after feeling that no cast or theme would ever appeal to them again. Though its story was self-contained, Atlus made developing future games easy for themselves — perhaps intentionally so — by ending it on a positive note, in a title whose story was far rosier than prior Persona games. It was too easy for them to reassemble the cast for future works. Persona 4 Golden for Vita offered the existing audience another opportunity to replay the game and a new audience the chance to jump into a definitive version. This is where the floodgates started opening.
This started with Persona 4 Arena, a fighting game adaptation from Arc System Works that also served as a sequel thanks to its story occurring after the main game’s. It also further tied the Persona 3 and 4 casts together by reintroducing several familiar faces from the previous game. Both Golden and Arena showed Atlus how the cast was still popular in 2012, around four years after the original version’s release, which led to more spinoffs. This included Arena sequel Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (which used super-deformed versions of the characters, and took place in the middle of both games), and Persona 4: Dancing All Night. This was both an opportunity for fans to know these characters better, and one for a company to cash in.
The game also received two anime adaptations in pretty good Persona 4: The Animation and the mediocre Persona 4 Golden: The Animation. There was no way you could dodge this game’s cast if you were into Japanese nerd media.
If I was a betting man, I would have assumed the adventures of the Persona 4 cast would end with the disappointing (compared to other spinoffs) sales from Dancing All Night, and especially the release of Persona 5. But this is why I don’t bet, because while Persona 5 is receiving its own series of spinoffs, it’s still not over for the Investigation Team.
Case in point: They appeared this year in Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle, which includes the casts of Blazblue, Persona 4 Arena, Under Night In-Birth, and animated series RWBY, and has its own story mode. They also appeared in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, a sequel recently released for 3DS in Japan. The Persona 5 cast is the biggest focus in the game, but the Persona 4 cast is still part of it, to the point of having a battle theme that should invoke nostalgia among those who remember the latter game fondly.
The reliance on spinoffs has unfortunately resulted in the so-called “flanderization” of some characters, as some of their peculiar habits became more dominant. Chie’s love of steak became more prevalent in Persona 4 Arena, but especially in Persona Q. Teddie fared even worse, as his previously-occasional bear puns became part of his regular speech pattern, which quickly made them, you know, unbearable. (I’m not sorry.) Some characters were fixed for Dancing All Night, so Atlus thankfully listened to the criticism.
The constant amount of Persona 4 spinoffs, or other titles involving the cast, amounts to blatant exploitation of a cash cow. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was heartwarming to be reunited with them several times throughout the years. Time will tell if this happens with the Persona 5 cast, though whether its characters left as much of a lasting impression as Persona 4’s in their main game is a point of debate. (I don’t think they did, personally.) But Atlus is giving it an honest shot with the aforementioned Persona Q2 and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, and these may only be the beginning.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
